Openers: The alarm ent off with a soft buzz, and Mark Tanner lazily reached over to turn it off. He wasn't asleep -- hadn't been for at least ten minutes. Rather, he'd been lying wake in bed, gazing out his window at the gulls wheeling slowly over san Francisco Bay. Now, as the alrm fell silent but Mark still made no move to get up, the big golden retriever that lay next to the bed stretched, got to his feet, nuzzled gently at the boy's neck, lapped at his cheek. finally, Mark threw the covers back and sat up.
"Okay, Chivas," he said softly, taking the dog's big head in his hands, and scratched him roughly behind the ears. "I know what time it is, and I know I have to get up, and I know I have to go to school. But just because I know it doesn't mean I have to kike it.!"
Chivas's lips seemed to twist into an almost human grin and his tail thumped heavily on the floor. As Mark stood up, he heard his mother calling from the hall.
:Breakfast in ten minutes. And no bathrobes at the table!"
Mark rolled his eyes at Chivas, who once more wagged his tail. Then the boy stripped off his pajamas, tossed them into the corner of his room, and pulled on a clean pair of underwear. He went to his closet and, ignoring the clothes his mother had purchased for him only two days earlier, fished a pair of worn jeans out of the pile of dirty clothes that covered the closet floor. He pulled them on, and as he did almost every morning, glumly surveyed his image in the mirror inside the closet door.
And, as always, he told himself that it wasn't his fault he was so much smaller than everyone else. the rheumatic fever that had kept him bed for almost a year when he waas seven seemed to have stopped his growth at the five-foot mark.
Sixteen years old, and barely over five feet tall.
-- Creature by John Saul (1989)
Things are about to change for Mark and his family. His father, a manager for a large high tech multinational corporation is suddenly transferred to Silverdale, Colorado -- a small company and somewhat isolated company town. One bright spot is that Jerry Harris and his family, all close friends with the Tanners, has moved to Silverdale three years earlier, and the families could reconnect.
Silverdale is an idyllic small town, postcard pretty. And it had a high school football that never lost -- ever. Jedd Harris, a close friend of Mark's before he had moved away, is a member of the team -- something that is a bit surprising since Jedd had suffered from asthma when he lived in California. But Jedd has changed. Previously he had been only slightly taller than Mark and now he towered over him. Jedd's once slight body had bulked up and there was no trace of the asthma. Jed was now on the Silverdale football tam, and every person on the team was tall and strong. Jedd's personality was different too, more aggressive, less caring.
On the day the Tanner's moved to Silverdale, almost the entire town was attending the high school football game.. With two minutes left to go the score was 42-0, Silverdale. As team's star quarterback Jeff LaConnor, a massive six foot four inch behemoth, rushed down the field, a member of the opposing tackled him. Jeff twisted and deliberately landed on the boy as hard as he could, elbowing him in the kidney as he did so. The damage was extensive; two of the boy's neck vertebrae were broken, one kidney was ruptured, three ribs were cracked, and two of the ribs punctured a lung which had collapsed; the boy was in a coma and might not survive.
Much of the high school's sports success could be laid at the town's mysterious sports center, which seemed to be able to make superstars out of ordinary kids. And now Mark is expected to join the team and go to the sports center...
John Saul (b. 1943) is the author of at least thirty bestselling suspense and horror novels published between 1977 and 2009. The vast majority of his novels feature children in peril, an aspect that some readers have found off-putting and/or gratuitous. Before writing thrillers, he had written ten books (title unknown to me) published under pen names; he has described the books as "really cheesy novels.". In 2023 he received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, and this past April he was inducted into his high school hall of fame.
Many people find Saul to be immensely readable. I prefer to take him in small doses.
Incoming:
- Edward S. Aarons, Assignment -- Ankara. A Sam Durrell spy-guy novel. the 15th in the series of 42 (48 if you count the posthumously published books by "Will B. Aarons"). "His plane was doomed; his choice was grim. He could take his chances on communist torture -- or go down slowly in the deep Black Sea." The woman of Sam's interest this time is named Francesca, if you are keeping count.
- Marvin Albert, Apache Rising. Western, filmed in 1966 at Dual at Diablo, with James Garner and Sidney Poitier. "The day Jess Remsberg found the scalp of his Comanche wife was they day some part of his soul died. But when he picked up the trail of the murderer, a new strength and certainty was born within him. For the first time in his life, Jess has a path to follow -- until he found the white killer and made him pay. He didn't count on the other woman -- this one very much alive, in the hands of cunning Apache captors -- her hair as flame-red as the hair of his wife had been jet-black. his mind ran hot with an unsought but hard-set double vow: to rescue the living, while avenging the dead."
- Grant Allen, Miss Cayley's Adventures. A collection of twelve linked stories originally published in The Strand Magazine in 1898 and 1899. "When her stepfathers ides, Miss Lois Cayley finds herself alone in the world with only twopence in her pocket. Undaunted, the intelligent, attractive and infinitely resourceful young woman decides to set off in search of adventure. Her travels take her from London to Germany, Italy, Egypt, and India. as she faces various challenges and meets an assortment of eccentric characters. But when her true love, Harold Tillington, finds himself accused of forging a will and faces prison, Miss Cayley will need all her ingenuity to investigate the case, solve the mystery, and save Harold from the diabolical plot." Allen was a very popular (and controversial) Canadian novelist and science writer, many of whose writings are landmarks in both detective and science fiction literature. He was also noted as an outspoken exponent of evolution in the last half of the 19th century.
- Theresa Mitchell Barbo, The Cape Cod Murder of 1899: Edwin Ray Snow's Punishment & Redemption. True crime form the former history editor at the Cape Cod Voice. "On a crisp September morning in 1899, a seventeen-year-old petty thief named Edwin Ry Snow shot and killed a bakery deliveryman named Jimmy Whittemore outside Yarmouth. The gunshots rang out for only a moment but the effects resounded on Cap Cod for half a century, The idyllic atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Cape Cod was shattered in a flash, Soon after the crime, Snow pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree, and was the first person ever to be sentenced to death by electric chair in Massachusetts history. But his compelling story didn't end there, and his redemption -- earned through decades of hard tine -- was as dramatic and uplifting as his crime was heinous."
- "Nicholas Blake" (C. Day-Lewis), Death and Daisy Bland (original title A Tangled Web). A stand-alone mystery from Britain's Poet Laureate and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis. "Daisy Bland was an innocent. which is a very dangerous thing to be when you are also particularly lovely and loving. Hugo Chesterman wasn't in the least bit innocent. He was, in fact, a habitual criminal. In the past he had committed small crimes of various natures. He was about to commit murder. But Hugo had charm great charm, and a way with women which the innocent Daisy had never before encountered. In the last analysis, it was Daisy's innocence which caused her violent undoing." An author's note reads: "This story follows in road outline a criminal cause celebre of the early years of the century. the color, details and interpretation, however, are largely my own, and the characters are wholly imagined." My copy is the 1960 Dell paperback with a cover painting by Armand Seguro which figures a naked Daisy wrapped in a sheet -- a very untypical cover for a Nicholas /Blake mystery, but, hey, you gotta sell paperbacks, right? As Blake, the author wrote sixteen classic British mysteries featuring gentleman detective Nigel Strangeways, as well as four stand-alone mysteries. The Strangeway mysteries were favorites of my wife.
- Ben Bova, Jupiter and Saturn. Science fiction, part of Bova's Grand Tour sequence of 25 novels set on various planets of the solar system. Jupiter: "Grant Archer only wanted to study astrophysics. But the forces of the 'New Morality,' the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run 21st century America, have other plans for him. To his distress, Grant is torn from his young bride and sent to a research station in orbit around Jupiter, to spy on the scientists who work there. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system -- with implications the New Morality doesn't like at all. What Grant's would-be controllers don't know is that his loyalty to science may be greater than his desire for a quiet life. But that loyalty will be tested in a mission as dangerous as any undertaken -- a mission to the middle reaches of Jupiter's endless atmosphere, a place where hydrogen flows as a liquid and cyclones larger than planets rage for centuries at a time. What lurks there is more than anyone has counted on...and stranger than anyone could have imagined." Saturn: "Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to take it. Now the government of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark, a one-way expedition twice Jupiter's distance from the Sun, to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since. But humans will be humans, on Earth of in the heavens -- so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting their moment. And hidden from them is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known only to a few..."
- John Brunner, The Tides of Time. Science fiction. "First there was the end. After weeks of running from pursuers, Gene and Stacy finally found refuge on an isolated island. Bur around them the island changed -- and so did they. Each time they awoke from sleep, they lived in a different life in a different time. And the farther back in time they went, the more they lost their anchor to their own world. When at last they were found, the people they had become no longer recognized their pursuer. And that was just the beginning."
- Michael Cadnum, Blood Gold. Young adult historical fiction. "The year is 1849 and nineteen-year-old William Dwinelle faces the dangers of the trip to the gold fields of California. He risks the less-known jungle route take takes him across the Isthmus of Panama, braving cholera, bandits, the steamy menace of Panama City, and the troubled voyage to San Francisco. William's quest is more than riches -- he is on the trail of the man who abandoned his friend Elizabeth, and when he reaches the western shore he encounters both murder and revenge among the desperate gold seekers in a land where friendship is the real treasure."
- Gordon R. Dickson, The Star Road. Science fiction collection nine short stories from 1958 to 1969. Icludes "Hilifter," a prequel story to the author's None But Man. A good selecti0on displaying Dicksopn's versatility.
- David Drake, Lord of the Isles. Epic fantasy, the first volume of six in the series -- nine of you count the Crown of the Isles trilogy. ''...an adventure set in an extraordinary world where the elemental; forces that empower magic are rising to a thousand-year peak. Into this world, survivors from the last magical peak intrude: Tenoctris, a quiet and scholarly sorceress swept out of the past at the moment of final catastrophe as her civilization sank beneath the sea; the ghost of the greatest ruler, King Carus of the Isles; and the great magician known only as The Hooded One, who actually caused that ancient catastrophe. In the days following an unusually severe storm in a tiny seaport town, life is disrupted. First, young Garric rescues the castaway Tenoctris; then, amazingly, a huge galley lands, bearing a court envoy searching for the lost heir to a dukedom -- and finding her in Sharina, Garric's sister. Immediately after the galley departs with Sharina to seek out her destiny, another party arrives by coach, led by a merchant sorcerer eager to hire Garric. He sets out with this party, accompanied by Tenocris and by the shepherd Cashel and his sister, Ilna, both of whom are discovered to have some magical power. Garric and Sharina, Cashel and Ilna, all travel toward romance, danger, and astonishing magic that will transform them and the world."
- "Brian Fox" (Todhunter Ballard), Return of Sabata. Novelization of the third film in the Spaghetti western Sabata trilogy, with Lee Van Cleef reprising the title role. (Van Cleef starred in the first movie but, because of scheduling conflicts, the role went to Yul Brynner in the second film.) "Sabata returns as judge...jury...executioner! A rich man; a frightened town; a gold mine; a con artist; a fortune in counterfeit money. What was the connection? Why did every gun in town belong to a redhead -- and what were they protecting? Was it a million dollars in gold, hidden away? Sabata wanted all the answers and he got them -- his way!" Todhunter Ballard, also known as W. T. Ballard, was a respected author of westerns, mysteries, and screenplays (he was also a cousin of Rex Stout). He wrote the novelization of the first film, Sabata, as "Brian Fox," a pseudonym he had previously used for film tie-ins. The tie-in for the second in the series, Adios Sabata, was evidently penned by Alice Denham. The third appeared as by "Brian Fox," and was apparently written by Ballard, although the book does not appear on many of his bibliographies.
- Brian Garfield, Arizona. Western; a 1969 reprint had credited the book to one of Garfield's pseudonyms, "Frank O'Brien." "They were misfits. Cowboys with no cattle. Ranchers with no land. Rebels with no war. And in 1890, Arizona was closing in on them. so there on a piece of land fir only for misfits, they built a town. And for that town a thousand desperate men and women, there was only one man for sheriff -- Ferris Rand. Tough enough to keep them in line and smart enough to keep the rest of the world out. But Ferris Rand had something to hide. A mistake he'd made years ago. A mistake that one day rode into town with a gun and a vengeance. A mistake a man can pay for in only one way -- with his life." I have a very strong suspicion that I already owned this and have it buried somewhere in a storage shed, but I bought the book anyway, based on my innate belief that one cannot own too many Garfields.
- Michael Gilbert, The Etruscan Net. Mystery. "At 6.50 pm two men got off the fast train from Rome at Florence station. Both were dressed in charcoal grey suits and carried bulging suitcases. and, although it was a warm summer evening, both men were wearing gloves...It was shortly afterwards that Robert Broke's troubles began. He ran a small gallery on the Vis de Benci, and was an expert in Etruscan terra0cott -- so he was certainly not the ort of person to get mixed up with spies, forgers, or the Mafia. Nor did he ever expect to find himself in prison on a charge of manslaughter. Or was it really murder?" The ever-inventive Gilbert was awarded a Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement from the Crime Writer's Association and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
- Christopher Golden, ALIEN: River of Pain. Original tie-novel to the film franchise. "When Ellen Ripley finally returns to Earth, she learns that the planet LV-426 -- now called Acheron -- has been colonized. But LV-426 is where /Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo fpuind the orinal xenomorph -- the killing machine known as the Alien. Protected by the Colonial Marines, the colonists seek to terraform the storm-swept planet. Two such residents are Anne and Russell Jordan, seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth. On Acheron, Anne gives birth to the colony's first newborn, Rebecca Jordan, also known as Newt. The wildcatters discover a vast, decaying spaceship. The horseshoe-shaped vessel is of particular interest to Weyland-Yutani, and may be the answer to their dreams. but what Anne and Russ find on board proves to be the stuff, not of dreams, but of nightmares." The prolific Golden always delivers.
- "Rohmer Zane Grey" (house name), Gun Trouble in Tonto Basin. Collection of three western stories based on the Zane grey character Arizona Ames, all from Zane Grey Western Magazine, 1969-1971: tow of the tales were written by Bill Pronzini & Jeff Wallman; a third is uncredited. "Young Rich Ames came to lead the life of a range drifter after he participated in a gunfight that left two men dead. Ames' skill earned him a reputation as one of the fastest guns in the West. In these splendid stories, Arizona Ames comes home to find his range and his family haunted by the shadow of a terror they dare not name!" (Five of the seven Arizona Ames stories in Zane Grey Western Magazine have been credited to Pronzini & Wallman; the remaining two are uncredited; the other writers who are known to have contributed stories based on Zane Grey's characters to this incarnation of the magazine are Clayton Matthews and Tom Curry.)
- Graham Greene, This Gun for Hire (British title A Gun for Sale). The famous crime thriller, one of Greene's "entertainments." The 1936 novel is "about a criminal called Raven, a man dedicated to ugly deeds. when he is paid, with stolen notes, for killing the Minister of War, he becomes a man on the run. Tracking down the agent who double-crossed him, and eluding the police simultaneously, he becomes both the hunter and the hunted."
- Donald Hamilton, The Big Country. Western novel, a shorter version of the book was published in the Saturday Evening Post as "Ambush at Blanco Canyon" (four parts, February 2 through February 23, 1957). "as far as Jim McKay was concerned, he had nothing to prove to himself -- or anyone else. Yet he came to a land that had already sized him up as a dude. Now word was out that he as the new owner of the Big Muddy. Like it or not, McKay found himself in the middle of an old and bloody feud. In Texas, land and water belonged to the man who could hold it with a gun. Both the Terrills and the Hannesys wanted Big Muddy's land and water, and were willing to kill to get it. But they hadn't bargained on a man like Jim MvKay, a quiet man who didn't know the meaning of fear -- who had never faced a fist of a gun that he couldn't beat. " This was the basis of the 1958 film with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston.
- Brian Herbert, The Race for God. Science fiction. "who needs heaven? God, it turns out, lives on the planet Tananius-Ofo in the distant galaxy 722C12009. And now, after countless millennia, He's invited us to come visit him. Not everybody, mind you. Just an odd assortment of heathens, heretics, pantheists, perverts, and true believers of every sect and creed -- all crammed into a single white spaceship piloted by a slightly crazed biocomputer. Each pilgrim is determined to be the first to reach God and learn His secrets...If they don't kill each other on the way there!" Herbert, son of Frank, is best known for a series of novels, written with Kevin J. Anderson, expanding on his father's fictional Dune universe (nineteen novels and two collections, plus various nonfiction works -- with more to come).
- Don Herron & John D. Haefele. Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years 1937-1973. Subtitled A Pictorial History & Guide for Collectors. Arkham House was a small publishing company founded by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft after that writer's death. In addition to being responsible for HPL's current reputation and influence, the press also issued important books by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and William Hope Hodgson, as well as the first books by Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, and others. Derleth later created the publishers Stanton & Lee, which published mainly books of regional interest, and the mystery house Mycroft & Moran, which published Derleth's stories of the Holmes-like Solar Pones, as well as other mysteries. {Derleth's death in 1971 severely impacted Arkham House; Wandrei served briefly as editorial director after Derleth died, but Wandrei's major interest was in publishing the five volumes of Lovecraft's Collected Letters. With the advent of James Turner as editorial director, the "classic years" of Arkham ended. Turner veered away from the publisher's traditional horror and weird tale roots and began spotlighting then-current science fiction and fantasy writers. Turner was fired in 1997 by Derleth's daughter April, who took over the reins of the company until her death in 2011. April Derleth hired Peter Ruber as consulting editor; ill health caused him to be replaced by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg. Very few new titles were published since 2000, and none have been published since 2010. The company's website has been silenced for several years and the August Derleth/Arkham House webpage states that the company is no longer in business.] Arkham House Ephemera covers promotional material from the publisher, as well as advertising brochures, stock lists, postcards, order blanks, and notices to the trades. It provides a fascinating insider view of the company. The book is certainly not for everyone, but you don't have to be a collector to enjoy it -- just someone who is a big fan of August Derleth's writing and of his various publishing efforts.
- Richard Jessup, Chuka, Western novel, the basis of a 1977 film starring Rod Taylor. "Fort Hll...Fort Blood...Fort Death...all the names used by troopers assigned to Fort Clendennon -- the rebels, the guardhouse bullies, the cowards, thieves, and brawlers. Isolated deep in a country fought over by Cheyenne, Arapaho, Apache, the Fort was set on broad, open grasslands. into this seething hellhole rode a saloon tooty* who had sold her favors for a ticket out of Trinidad, a Spanish-Mexican lady of quality, and the pistolero -- a man with a bone-deep hardness in his face, quicksilver in his draw, and a legendary past -- they called him CHUKA." [* yeah, that's what is said -- "tooty"] Also, Texas Outlaw. Another western. " 'They call be Babe Long,' the kid said. His hand flashed to his side and returned with unbelievable speed, the Colt up steady and cocked. It was perfect fluid motion. His eyes were black and moist looking, as if there might be frost on them. His hands were as steady as a church organist's. 'That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen,' the sheriff said quietly to the deadliest killer in all of Texas."
- Elmore Kelton, Buffalo Wagons. Western. "For Gage Jameson, the summer of 1873 has been a poor hunt. A year ago he felled sixty-two buffalo in one stand, but now the great Arkansas herd is gone, like the Republican herd before it. In Dodge City, old hide-hunters speak in awe of a last great herd to the south -- but no hunter who values his scalp dares ride south of the Cimarron and into Comanche territory. None but Gage Jameson..." This one won a Spur Award for Best Western Novel for 1957. Also, Eyes of the Hawk. Another western, this time written under the pseudonym "Lee McElroy." "Thomas Canfield's people were among the earliest settlers, carving their ranch out of a wild country around Stonehill, Texas. He was a proud man with the fierce-eyed stare that led the Mexicans to call him gavilan -- 'The Hawk." Branch Ison was a brash, violent newcomer who fought ruthlessly to build a fortune at Canfield's expense. they were tow hard men hurtling toward a bloodstained clash for power with a day of reckoning that would shake a Texas town to its very roots." This one won a Spur award for Best Western Novel in 1981.
- Tim Lebbon, Alien: Out of the Shadows. An original novel based on the Aliens film franchise, set between the events of Alien and Aliens. "As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness and isolation. Then on planet LV178, he and his fellow miners discovered a storm-scoured, sand-blasted hell -- and trimonite, the hardest material known to man. When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns. there was evil, hibernating -- and waiting for suitable prey. Hoop and his associates uncover a nest of Xenomorphs, and hell takes on a new meaning. Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviors...Ellen Ripley, the last human survivor of the salvage ship Nostromo."
- Jonathan Maberry, Mars One. Science fiction. "Tristan has known that he and his family were going to be on the first mission to colonize Mars since he was twelve years old, and he has been training ever since. However, knowing the he would be leaving for Mars with no plan to return didn't stop him from falling in love with Izzy. Now, at sixteen, it's time to leave Earth, and he's forced to face what he must leave behind in exchange for an uncertain future. Not everyone is eager to colonize Mars, however, and the enemy may even be on board, ready to do anything in their power to end this mission..."
- Marie J. MacNee, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers, Volume 2: K-Z. Outdated (1995) and not very useful reference book from Gale Research, Inc. "Everyone's familiar with the names Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark*, and Isaac Asimov. But how many know how they got their start in writing, who their favorite authors were, or what inspired their stories? fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers provides a wealth of information on favorite authors -- some of it common knowledge**, some not -- from the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. did you know that Stephen King was always the last to be picked to play baseball in school?*** Or that Christopher Pike is a pseudonym taken from an early Star Trek episode?*** Or that Andre Norton created science fiction's first heroine?***** Or that William Golding's Lord of the Flies was rejected by 21 publishers before it was finally published?"****** [* Yeah, they went there, lumping Mary Higgins Clark in with horror writers ** Mostly, yes ***I had probably already assumed it **** I'm not much of a Trekkie but even I knew that ***** She didn't ****** Don't know i knew the exact number, but it knew it was more than I have fingers and toes] Each entry contains (where applicable) Vital Information (date and place of author's birth and death), Photos (of the authors, or a book jacket, or a movie still), Biographical Sketch, Best Bets (some of the author's best works as determined by the publisher), and Sources further reading). Designed (I sincerely hope) for junior high libraries, the selections ignore many of the greater writers in these genres in favor of popular ones, with a heavy emphasis on writers of young adult books. William Kotzwinkle, for example is included for his novelizations of E.T. and Superman III, while ignoring Doctor Rat (his World Fantasy Award-winning novel); Kotzwinkle's five books about Walter, the Farting Dog were published well after this reference book came out, but I doubt if it would have covered them anyway. As a reference book, this volume is poorly planned, poorly executed, and unworthy of the junior high bracket is seems to be aimed for. And get off my lawn!
- "Charles Eric Maine" (David McIlwain), High Vacuum. Science fiction novel from 1957. "...a tale of a grim race with time. The Alpha rocket is the first manned expedition from Earth to get to the Moon. It makes a crash-landing and facilities for the 'maintenance of the abnormal' are sharply cut. There is enough oxygen to support the four survivors for five weeks -- or two for ten, or one for twenty..."
- Doug Moench. Batman: Haunted Gotham. Graphic novel. "Everybody DIES. And in Haunted Gotham, odds are it's MURDER. Cut off from the rest of the world, the city has become a dangerous hunting ground. In service to the darkest lords of the underworld, a patchwork Joker and a horde of supernatural monstrosities prey upon humanity. The innocent have only one protector -- the terrifying but all-too-human Batman. Trained from birth, Bruce Wayne must battle these demons if he's to liberate the city and save the souls of his parents. Scorching the streets with a purifying fire, the Batman will never quit his campaign, even if he is forever haunted, and forever hunted, by all the demons of Hell." Collects issues from the 2000 comic book series.
- [Monty Python -- Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, & Michael Palin], The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, Volumes One and Two. Because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
- Sarah Pinborough, Bleeding Ground. Horror. "Life was good for Matt and Cloe. They were in love and looking forward to their new baby. But what Chloe gave birth to wasn't a baby. It isn't even human. It's an entirely new species that uses humans only for food -- and as hosts for their young. As Matt soon learns. though, he is not alone in this terror. Women all over town have begun to give birth to these hideous creatures, spidery nightmares that live to kill -- and feed. As the infestation spreads and the countryside is reduced to a series of web-shrouded ghost towns, will the survivors find a way to fight back? Or is it only a matter of time before all of mankind is reduced to a...BREEDING GROUND."
- Ian Rankin, Rather Be the Devil. A Rebus novel. "As he settles into an uneasy retirement, Rebus has given up his favorite vices. There's just one habit he cannot shake: he can't let go of an unsolved case It's the only pastime he has left, and up until now it's the only one that wasn't threatening to kill him. But when Rebus starts reexamining the facts behind the long-ago murder of a glamorous woman at a luxurious hotel, the past comes roaring back to life with a vengeance. As soon as Rebus starts asking questions, a fresh body materializes. Connecting the mysteries of the past to those of the present, Rebus learns that he's not the only one with an insatiable curiosity about what happened in that hotel room forty years ago, and that someone will stop at nothing to ensure that the crime remains ancient history."
- Barry Sadler, 17 of the 22 historical military fantasies novels about Casca. the Eternal Mercenary, who was the legionary who drove the Holy Lance into the side of Jesus Christ on Golgotha, and was then cursed to the life of an immortal soldier until the Second coming. Sadler was the Green beret who spent five month deployed in Vietnam (where he was wounded) and is best known for his #1 song. 1966's "The Ballad of the Green Berets". The books I picked up were #4 The War Lord -- some place this book as #3 in the series (Casca in Imperial China), #5 The Barbarian (Casca in the Northlands beyond Germany in the days of Imperial Rome) , #6 The Persian (Casca defeats a Hunnish army in ancient Persia), #7 The Damned (Casca vs. Atilla the Hun), #8 Soldier of Fortune (Casca in Cambodia going against the Kmer Rouge), #9 The Sentinel (Casca in ancient North Africa), #10 The Conquistador 9Casca in 1y6th century Mexico), #11 The Legionaire (Casca at Dien Bien Phu in Nam during the Indo-China War), #12 The African Mercenary (Casca out to topple an African dictator's regime), #13 The Assassin (Casca in the ancient mid-East), #14 The Phoenix (Casca back in Vietnam), #15 The Pirate (Casca joins ranks with Bluebeard), #17 The Warrior (Casca shipwrecked in the south Sea among a warrior tribe), #18 The Cursed (Casca as a British soldier in Colonial China), #19 The Samurai (Casca in Feudal Japan), #20 Soldier of Gideon (Casca in the Middle East during a 20th century religious war, and #21 The Trenchsoldier (Casca in World War I). That Casca sure got around. The author had a controversial and troubling life. in 1978, he shot a country music songwriter in the head; the victim died the next day. Sadler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 4 to 5 years in prison, which hos lawyers managed to get reduced to 30 days in the county workhouse, Sadler served 28 of those days. 1n 1984 he was shot in the head in a cab in Guatemala City in what might have been an attempted robbery. He was flown to the US. where he remained in a coma for six weeks and became a quadriplegic with significant brain damaged. Released in early 1989, he vanished, only to be found days before a competency hearing was scheduled for him. and died in a VA hospital on November 5, just four days after his 49th birthday.
- "Bradford Scott" (A. Leslie Scott), The Range Terror. A Walt Slade western. "Trouble stalked the town of Pirate...Wagon trains passing westward were pillaged, their occupants brutally murdered. Shootings in the street were an everyday occurrence. Nobody lifted an eyebrow at news of another stagecoach holdup. Even the sheriff believed that Pirate was a town too tough to tame. Into this holocaust rode Walt Slade, undercover ace of the Texas Rangers, who loaded his guns and put his badge aside to smash lawlessness and achieve justice and peace." First published in Thrilling Western (March, 1946),then issued in paperback (probably expanded) in 1959. Scott wrote 69 novelets about Scott for Thrilling Western, many of which were later published as paperback originals. Scott had created the character of Texas Ranger Jim Hatfield for Texas Rangers in 1936 under the name "Jackson Cole"; when other writers began writing Jim Hatfield stories as Cole, Scott then created the character Walt Slade. In 1956, Scott published half a dozen novels about Jim Hatfield as Jackson Cole, but the copyright holders of the original Hatfield stories objected, so he switched to writing novels about Walt Slate as Bradford Scott -- over the next seventeen years he published over a hundred Walt Slade novels, many of which I believe were rewritten and expanded from his original magazine stories. I don't know if anyone has ever fully traced the Walt Slade novels to their magazine origins.
- Dave Van (he insisted on the capital "V") Arnam, Starmind. Science fiction. "Benjy Tyler: idiot mind in a beautiful body...Jailyn Rost: very much a female, very rich, and very clever...Joe Winslow: multi-wave expert -- caretaker and attendant on Asteroid 770. Whether they knew it or not, these three were linked -- and in a way no humans had ever been before them Only time would tell whether the link destroyed them..."
- "Jonas Ward" (William R. Cox), Trap for Buchanan. Western novel, the second in the Buchanan series. "When Buchanan grubstaked Mousetrap Mulligan he never thought he'd see his money again. He never thought the old man would hit paydirt. But he did -- and that was bad news for Buchanan. Because a lonely old desert rat with a hidden cache of nuggets and a drunkard's bragging habits was likely to end up very dead...very suddenly. Then Mousetrap vanished. Every thieving killer around knew the key to his treasure was his seventeen-year-old granddaughter, Nora. Now all that stood between helpless girl and a wild band of cold-hearted murderers was one man. Buchanan."
- Joseph A. West, Gunsmoke: Blood, Bullets, and Buckskin. The first of sixth original novels based on the classic western television series (from the Festus days -- not Chester). "It's cattle season -- and for more than a thousand punchers, the bright lights, whiskey, and willing women of Dodge will make up for months of straddling half-broke ponies and driving herds across storm-swept plains. But for Marshal Matt Dillon, this season means trouble. Five years ago, Cage Stucker cut loose with a bullwhip and gave Sean Tyree a beating. Now, while Cage and his father are in town to sell their herd, Tyree is there top settle a score. Sean Tyree's gambling years paid off big. Armed only with money, he has a special kind of vengeance in mind. While Dodge may be hard enough to withstand the showdown, Dillon has not lived this long by charging headlong into trouble. He'd rather see Cage sell quick, head back to Texas, and let this not so sleepy ton get some rest..."
- Richard S. Wheeler, The Fate. Western. "When Dragovich's gold was stolen and his daughter kidnapped in a daring train robbery, the ruthless gold king had big reasons and plenty of sharpshooters to make sure the case got solved pronto. But sheriff and doctor Santiago Toole learned that justice was not so simple when he discovered the secret connection between Dragovich and the robber. It became even more complicated after Dragovich kidnapped Toole's lovely wife -- and informed him that he'd never see her again if Dragovich didn't get his own brand of justice. Dragovich was a man who always got hat hw wanted. But if there was a man who could stop him, it was Toole..." Also, From Hell to Midnight. Another western. He came to unearth a buried treasure...not to get buried alive. "In a tweed coat and pith helmet, Hannibal Jones stands out from the hardscrabble crowd on the Nevada frontier. But the legendary mining geologist fears no man, dead or alive -- and that includes the ghost believed to haunt the long-closed Alice Mine. A man named Lucky Haggerty struck gold with the Alice, and then mysteriously shut it down before his death. Now Hannibal is trying yo find out what treasure the mine still holds -- and who owns it. After someone tries to scare him off, he starts digging into Lucky's life. What he finds is ne beautiful woman -- and then two more after that. Before long, Hannibal's investigation touches off an avalanche of greed, lust, and anger. And for a man who just wanted to bring a dead mine back to life, the time has come to face down a murderous enemy, and somehow get off this mountain in one piece..."
- Zane Grey's Western Magazine, vol. 1, No.8, October 1947, edited by Don Ward; not be conflated with the later Zane Grey Western Magazine mentioned above. This one contains Grey's Buck Duane story "The Outlaw, or The Last of the Duanes," an abridgment of the 1o915 novel The Lone Star Ranger. Other reprints are Max Brand's much anthologized story "Wine of the Desert" (from This Week, June 7, 1936) and Bret Harte's "Found at Blazing Sun"9from The Sun, March 5, 1882). Original stories are by Eugene Cunningham, Giff Cheshire, Frank C Robinson, and Allan Vaughn Elson; with a poem by S. Omar Barker and an article by J. Frank Dobie. Looks like a very readable issue for any western fan.
- Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's opinion.
- Academe: An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.
- Academy: A modern school where football is taught
- Accordion: An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.
- Accountability: The mother of caution.
- acquaintance: A person whim we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.
- Actually: Perhaps, possibly.
- Admiration: The polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves
- Barbie and Barney Backlash Day
- National Chocolate -Covered Anything Day
- Stupid Toy Day
- Evidently hunting in Florida can be illegal, at least when you are hunting for drones. 72-year-old Florida Man Dennis Winn of Lake county found that out after he shot a drone that belonged to Walmart. Winn was charged with one count of shooting or throwing deadly missiles into dwellings and one count of criminal mischief causing more than $1000 in damage and one count of discharging a firearm in public He was ordered to pay Walmart $5000. Police said there were children playing in the area at the time. Winn said that he thought the drone was surveilling him (and who's to say they weren't?) and that he had previously reported similar encounters with drones to his HOA. His attorney said that the restitution was an admission of wrongdoing, but not a guilty plea.
- Florida Man Joseph Voight, 23, of Polk County, has admitted he shot and killed his father, who (he said) had complained about Voight's constant playing of video games. For good measure, he also shot his mother, who survived.
- Florida Man Nicholas Ortiz, 33, has been sentenced to life for the shooting of a co-worker in Rusty's Bar and Grill in Naples in 2021. Ortiz and the victim had been arguing out side the bar, when the victim went back into the bar to talk with another co-worker. Ortiz followed him into the bar, drew a weapon and shot the man several times. One other person was shot during the incident and another was injured trying to break up the confrontation.
- Florida Man Gerald Radford, who is accused of a hate crime in the killing of a gay man, has asked a Tampa judge to dismiss the charges, saying that he acted in self defense. Radford claimed that the victim, John Lay, had hit him in the face several times just before the shooting. Prosecutors dismiss the allegations, and witnesses have testified that Radford had harassed Lay for several months before the shooting, using homophobic slurs. Arresting officers testified that Radford had used homophobic slurs at the time of his arrest. Radford, of course, is pinning his hopes on Florida's "stand your ground" law.
- Florida Man Alexander Elliott, 21, of Riverview, was arrested weeks after a hit-and-run that injured four people. One of the victims had photographed the car that had hit them but the police could not make out the license plate or a description of what the driver was wearing. Over the next few days, the victims kept getting tips from anonymous tipsters, including surveillance phots of a damaged car being towed from a Zoom Zoom gas station shortly after the crash. The tips eventually led police to Elliott, who admitted it was his car but denied being the driver. Police said Elliott appeared nervous when speaking to them and was reluctant to answer certain questions. Elliott was arrested and has since posted bail.
- A cure for pre-eclampsia may be on the horizon https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/cure-for-pre-eclampsia-is-on-horizon-as-researcher-discovers-lipid-nanoparticle-to-deliver-directly-to-placenta/
- Klick Health gives its employees a very special holiday gift https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/company-surprises-workers-with-amazing-hugs-from-people-they-most-wished-to-see-for-holidays-watch/
- A Secret Santa paid back kindness showed to him https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/the-original-secret-santa-started-it-all-by-paying-back-kindness-shown-while-he-was-homeless/
- "Solar diesel" provides a cutting edge low carbon fuel https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ferries-planes-line-up-to-purchase-solar-diesel-a-cutting-edge-low-carbon-fuel-from-swiss-start-up/
- You just knew dark chocolate could be good for you, right? https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/eating-dark-chocolate-is-associated-with-lower-risk-of-diabetes-type-2-in-large-study/
- A Christmas miracle from a dying donkey https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/christmas-miracle-after-dying-donkey-is-rescued-and-given-shelter-a-surprise-birth-in-stable/
I miss Richard Wheeler.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I would have been tall like my brother and mother if I hadn't spent five months in bed with pneumonia when I was six.
I miss Richard Wheeler, too. I'm always amazed at the variety of your INCOMING. My INCOMING has shrunk to a trickle. And I'm still finding homes for many of my books. I've decided to remove all my Alice Munro books from my collection after reading about her treatment of her daughter. How anyone can be so callous toward a child is beyond me!
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